Pakatan Rakyat ceases to exist: DAP

KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 (Bernama) -- The DAP today declared that Pakatan Rakyat which groups the party, PKR and PAS is no more.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the decision of the PAS muktamar to sever ties with the DAP had "killed" the coalition.

The DAP central executive committee, at a meeting yesterday, was unanimous in regarding the Pakatan Rakyat as no longer existing.

"As Pakatan Rakyat was formed by the three parties based on consensus and bound by the Common Policy Framework, the PAS Muktamar's motion effectively killed off Pakatan Rakyat. Pakatan Rakyat therefore ceases to exist," Lim said in a statement today.

Pakatan Rakyat, a loose coalition, was formed on 1 April 2008 by the DAP, PAS and PKR after the 12th General Election.

Early this month, the 61st PAS general assembly passed a resolution calling for the severing of ties with the DAP after the DAP had officially cut ties with PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

The DAP cut ties with Abdul Hadi after claiming that the latter failed to discuss with the other Pakatan Rakyat members on PAS' plan to proceed with the implementation of the 'hudud' law in Kelantan.

PAS, on the other hand, had claimed that DAP leaders had attacked Abdul Hadi's leadership, prompting the party to sever ties with the DAP.

"This breach of promise by Hadi was followed by the momentous decision on June 6 when the PAS muktamar, the general assembly and the highest authority of the party, accepted without debate a motion to sever ties with the DAP," Lim said.

He also said that the breach of promise made personally by Abdul Hadi at the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council meeting on Feb 10 to discuss the hudud law proposed by PAS first with Pakatan Rakyat partners at the council meeting before being tabled to the Kelantan State Assembly or a private motion by Abdul Hadi in Parliament further immobilised the entire Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council.

"The near-paralysis of Pakatan Rakyat was exacerbated by Hadi's willingness to forge a unity government with Umno and his support for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak," Lim claimed.

The DAP secretary-general also cited several major incidents over the past years, including the Selangor menteri besar crisis, and decisions agreed upon at the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council that were violated by Abdul Hadi as having resulted in the near-paralysis of the coalition.

The DAP, he said, would continue to work with PKR and others with the aim to win Putrajaya in the next general election.

"The immediate effect on the Selangor state government will be DAP's support for the leadership of Menteri Besar (Mohamed) Azmin Ali to reframe the state government with a new functioning coalition," he said.